Genesis-the Rose from Heaven's Flood
by Jadesfire2
Summary: Alternate reality--think Waterworld (great movie) setting, with some wako storyline that ends up rocketshippy. there's a better summary inside.
1. Default Chapter

Genesis~ the Rose of Heaven's Flood  
By Jadesfire2  
  
SUMMARY~~ In an alternate reality, the pokemon world that we know of is no more. A great flood destroyed civilization centuries ago, and the remaining survivors struggle to rebuild without dry land, and a past they had forgotten. (if you have seen the movie Waterworld you know where I'm going with this, in fact this is like waterworld combined with Slpash combined with pokemon and my screwed up imagination!!! Ha!!!)   
James is just one of the many men who live on the sea instead of a boat settlement. He had enjoyed his solitary life, until the day someone unexpected literally dropped into his boat. A strange girl, who is not what she seems. She knows the great secrets of what man once was, and what a group of pirates intends to find out, any way they can.   
~Rocketshippy!~  
~~~~~~~  
  
"What do those idiots think they're doing?" James muttered to himself as he watched the large boat. It wasn't a very big boat compared to the settlements people lived on, but this was an adequate size for a fishing boat, which was what it was. Normally those fishing boats would be miles north, in shallower waters where they would hunt goldeen , starme, and other pokemon. But these fishermen-these stupid, stupid fishermen-were chasing a Garados of all things!   
James grabbed the rudder and began to move his small boat away. If the fishermen made the sea dragon angry, it might use dragon rage. An attack that powerful would be too much for James's boat to take. After he was a good distance away, he grabbed his telescope to watch.  
The garados had turned around to face the boat, and was very angry. Visible at the front of the boat on deck, were several men. They were yelling-some screaming-and pointing at the garados. They appeared to be having an argument with a young woman. James couldn't really see her that well, but she had long, red hair, and her arms were bound to her sides with rope.  
The men yelled at her some more, and she appeared to be yelling back, but James couldn't hear from this distance. As the garados prepared for dragon rage, the men seemed to be frantic. They grabbed the woman and shoved her in front so the garados could see her.   
"Sacrificing her?" James thought aloud. "That's a weird thing to do if those jackasses were the ones chasing the dragon anyway, hmm...."  
With a roar, Garados used dragon rage. A whirwind picked up and it sent large gusts of wind and water all around. The fishing boat was lifter high into the air and James watched it spin round and round in the tornado. He realized that he was still too close, and though he was too far away to be picked up by the twister, the wind could rip the sails. He began to move the boat away from the area.   
The twister was dying down, and people from the boat were being flung into the sea in all directions. Some of them were dead, and others screamed and cursed as they hit the water. They sure did look stupid; James laughed a little and began to go on his way when there was a high-pitched scream. Whirling around, James saw the red haired woman falling down towards him, flung by the whirlwind. Before James could react, she smashed into the sail, and fell into his pile of fishing nets, motionless.   
For a moment, James wondered what to do. Should he return this woman's carcass to the men in the water? She was obviously their prisoner...but what would they do with a dead body anyway? He couldn't get money off of her, so he decided he should do the decent thing and just dump her body over the side in a plain burial at sea.   
The wind was still hard and it rustled his hair. The waves were strong and he decided that he would get into calmer water before he did anything about the dead girl on his boat's deck.   
  
About an hour later, James had made it to a more serene part of the never-ending ocean. It was a good enough spot to stop his boat and dump the corpse before he headed off to the next trading post. He walked over to the pile of fishing nets on the small deck and untangled them from the still form.   
He lifted net after net until he came upon a tangled mass of red. The girl had incredibly long hair and it covered her like a blanket. He reached over and pulled the hair out of her face.  
James was stunned. He had seen many people die before, and he had even killed a few to survive, but he had never felt sorry for any of them. But this woman...she was very beautiful, with pale skin and lips the same blood red as her hair; she had long legs and a full chest, and even in her tattered Seel-skin dress and her arms bound with rope, she still looked majestic. He had never seen someone so pretty as her, and he felt sorry that she was dead, and the world couldn't see how lovely she was anymore.   
Sighing slightly, he got back to business. In this world, you had to think about your survival over everything and everyone else, so he searched her for something he could sell or trade. The seel-skin wasn't worth much, so he left that on her, but she wore an array of jewelry that he could surely sell. He had removed her necklace and earrings and was trying to unclasp her bracelet when he felt it. His hands had been on her wrist, ready to get the bracelet off of her hand when he had felt a pulse. Had that just been his imagination? James wasn't sure. He adjusted his hand and put two fingers on her wrist to properly take her pulse, and sure enough, there it was. In disbelief, he put one of his fingers on her parted lips and he could feel her warm breath. She was, indeed, alive. Just unconscious.  
Well that put a whole new prospective on things. What in the world was he going to do with this person? He could sell her. She'd probably make a bad slave though, judging by her attitude towards the men on the boat. However with her body, whoever bought her would probably rape her, then sell her off to someone else. James shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't his problem; whatever happened to her, there was no reason for him to worry about it.  
Rubbing his hands together he stood up and got to work. That girl had made a tangle out of his fishing nets and if he was going to eat today, he had to get the knots out.  
  
  
Jessie woke up with an awful headache. She lay still and tried to remember what had happened to her. She remembered arguing with Giovanni, and the Garadous attacking. She had planed to swim away when she had hit the water, but she hadn't hit the water. She had hit a boat-no wonder her head hurt. And where was she now? The same boat, or had they given her back to Giovanni? Wherever she was, she was genuinely surprised to be alive. She would have thought that the Rockets would have been sick of her by now. That was probably true-she was probably still on that boat she had hit.   
Jessie tried to move her arms. No luck. She was still tied up. She opened her eyes and squinted against the light. When she finally adjusted to the bright sunlight she saw that she was definitely on that other boat and she was definitely not with any of the Rockets. This was interesting.   
There was only one person within her area of vision. He was only a little taller than her, and she judged that she could take him in a fight, that is if she weren't tied up. Her arms were immobile, and there was fishing net tangled around her legs so kicking him wasn't an option either. Damn.   
He hadn't noticed she was awake yet. He was trying to get a knot out of another net in his hand. She couldn't see his face from her angle, for his long, blue hair was in the way. This was probably his boat-and the little skiff was truly a floating disaster. Jessie was surprised that this boat was still on the surface, but that didn't matter. All she needed to do was get in the water...  
  
James had been busily detangling the net when he had the feeling he was being watched. Turning around, he saw the woman, calmly glaring at him from where she lay on the deck. "Morning sunshine," James muttered, for her stare was truly menacing, and if she weren't tied up, he'd be as far away from her as possible.   
"Who are you?" she wasn't asking, she was demanding to know.   
"My name is James, and perhaps you should be a little more polite to the person who saved your life," James bit out. This girl had a major attitude. He was in for a long trip back to port.  
Her face contorted. "Oh I'm terribly sorry. It's a pleasure to meet you; I'd shake your hand but I seem to be a little tied up." She stated in a falsified high tone. Then, back in her normal, arrogant voice, "and what in the name of Lugia do you mean by saved me!?" she shouted. "I doubt that if I hadn't hit the boat ya would have left me in the water which you sure should have because I didn't ask to be 'rescued'."  
James lifted an eyebrow. She was quite a character. And she was right. If she hadn't slammed into his boat, he would have left her in the water to probably drown due to the ropes. But was that what she had wanted? What was she, suicidal? "You wanted to be dumped overboard? While tied up?"  
"Yeah, not that it's any of your business. So let me go!" she yelled, and began to try and kick the nets off her legs with no success.   
"Hey! Hold it!" James yelled, grabbing her shoulders and trying to hold her still. She trashed about still, and gave James a lot of trouble for she was stronger than him. "I'm not going to let you commit suicide; you're no good to me dead!"  
"Suicide!?" she shouted, with a trash of her shoulders that knocked him back. "I'm not suicidal! And what do I matter to you, anyway?" She tossed her head, "What are ya gonna do? Rape me? Sell me? Give me back to the Rockets?"  
James straightened himself up and sat back down a good few feet away to work on untangling the nets once more. "I was thinking of selling you, if you really want to know. Of course I don't know who in the world would buy you."  
"Humph," she left it at that, and returned to trying to free her legs.   
  
A few hours later James looked over and saw that she had stopped struggling. Watching her earlier, he had realized that she had amazing upper body strength, but her legs were pretty weak. Her constant kicking at the piles of thick nets had been ineffective and had completely worn her out.   
She laid relatively still, eyes closed, but she seemed to be awake. She was tired, and a bit sunburned from lying out in the sun, not to mention she had gotten paler. Probably dehydrated. She seemed to be too tired to fight him off, so James thought it would be safe to approach her now.   
  
Jessie was exhausted, but too uncomfortable to fall asleep. She felt sick. She was hungry, but mostly thirsty, and had a horrible headache. She was sore from the sunburns and the ropes had started to cut into her skin. She heard footsteps, but didn't bother to open her eyes for it seemed that the James person was the only one on the boat. But then the sudden change in motion got her attention and she looked up to find that James was trying to carry her-and very clumsily due to the tangle of fishing nets.  
"What do you think your doing?" she demanded, but she didn't really try to get down. Anywhere would be better then just baking on that deck.   
"You don't look too good, I'm getting you into the shade," James replied, not looking at her.   
Jessie was taken to below deck to a small cabin and James put her down on a makeshift bed made out of dried seaweed. "If you promise not to punch me I'll untie you, okay?" James offered. Jessie begrudgingly shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't quite in the mood to fight anyone off. She just wanted to some water and to fall asleep. Besides, if he wanted to get any money off of her, he'd have to keep her alive. That meant he would give her food and water. After she felt better, she could punch his lights out and go home.   
Felling a small tinge of pain as the open air hit her cuts, the rope came loose. Jessie stretched her arms out with relief. They were cramped, cut and sore, but in working order. James, who had backed away, thinking she was going to hit him, came back over when he realized she was just stretching. "There's water and fish over there on the table," he said, and started to try and get his nets off of her feet. Jessie was dimly aware that she was still partially immobile and on a bed.  
"I can slam you into kingdom come, so if you try anything-" she started.  
"Oh get off it," James growled, and managed to get the last net off of her. "I'm not gonna touch you so don't have a fit."   
Jessie just made a noise and closed her eyes. Dry seaweed was surprisingly comfortable and she was very tired. The food could wait; right now she wanted to sleep. She heard clothes rustle and vaguely noted the sound of keys clinking. But it all didn't matter. Sleep was the only thing on her mind.  
  
James was about to turn the lock on the door, but then he remembered something. "Hey," he shouted into the cabin. The woman made a noise in response. "Should I address you as 'hey you' or do you have a name?"   
She mumbled, "Jessica." And then was asleep.  
  
  
"Shit," Jessie hissed as she fell. She must have twisted her ankle when she hit the boat, because now she couldn't walk on her left foot. "I guess this cuts out beating him senseless and escaping when he opens the door," she muttered. "There goes plan A."  
It wasn't hard to pull herself to the small table and climb into a chair, for she had very strong arms. Jessie then set to work at eating the meal that was on the table. It was just some fish, recently gutted and slammed carelessly onto a plate. She personally couldn't have cared less about the meal, but there was only one glass of water.   
Fresh water was such a hard thing to come by, for you had to trade a lot to get one of those machines that filters the salt out of the ocean water. Usually, rain was collected in buckets and saved, but it hadn't rained recently. Looking around, Jessie couldn't find anything that could be a water container. "He's probably hidden it from me; didn't want me to drink it all," she muttered as she bit into her fish. Afterwards, she drank every drop from her glass and was in the process of crawling back to her seaweed bed when the door opened slowly.   
  
James was careful in unlocking and opening the door. He had expected her to try and ambush him as soon as he turned the key, but when he opened the door, he found her on her stomach in the middle of the floor. She propped herself up with her arms and seemed to be dragging herself back to the seaweed bed. "This is new," James commented, and she glared at him.   
"I twisted my ankle you idiot!" she snapped and returned to the task of pulling herself to the bed.   
For a moment, James thought it was a trick, but he looked at her left ankle and sure enough, it was swollen and out of place. That was just great. He'd have to wait for that to heal before he sold her, or else he wouldn't get that much.   
  
"Will you just hold still for two seconds?" James hissed at her. He was trying, note the word trying, to get her ankle back into place and bandage it.   
"I don't think you're doing it right," Jessie snapped back at him. "If I can't walk again after this I will personally hunt you down and gut you with that harpoon over there," she jutted her thumb in the direction of James's harpoon gun. A messy and primitive apparatus, but the cheapest he could get. Every so often he could pull in a big fish with it. It catapulted a heavy, metal tipped spear at whatever you aimed it at, but the latch on the trigger was always getting stuck. Usually, by the time he got it to work, the fish had swum away.   
Jessie winced again and it finally looked like her ankle was right, but you could never tell for sure. James was now attempting to make a decent bandage out of kelp. "You," he grunted, pulling hard on the slimy seaweed to make it stay put, "Need to work on your attitude."  
"Oh, you expect me to be nice to the person who's gonna sell me?" she retaliated.   
"Point taken," James yanked the kelp again and looked for a spare piece of rope to tie it with. Finding one, he tied the kelp to her leg with a precarious looking knot. "Now if you would just sit still, I won't have to redo this thing."   
  
He left her, crossed armed and steaming mad on his spare sail that was folded up at the back of the deck. He didn't have to worry about her sneaking up on him now, for every time she moved, it required hopping on one foot, and that made a considerable amount of noise.   
There was quiet for a little bit. Jessica had stretched out on the stiff, tan fabric. She didn't sleep, she just lay there with her eyes half open and her arms behind her head. She would stare into the sky or the ocean for a long time, then drop out of her daze for a bit. She would watch him and glare horribly if he got within eight feet of her, but after a while she would drift off again.   
James had been repairing the fishing lines and for the first time he realized that it was very boring work; not that he had found it thrilling beforehand either. He had been so used to being by himself, and there was so little to do on the boat, that he had just sunken into a routine. The only interesting thing to do was the necessary chores, so they had never struck him as boring before.  
But there she was. Something new and interesting that had just fallen from the sky into his lap, or boat to be more precise. And now that there was something far more attractive then a fishing net around, James couldn't help staring at her. He was aware that she hated him with a passion, but she was beautiful and alive. Far more colorful then the drab surroundings of the boat deck.   
Another thing that captured his attention was that, although he had seen many humans at the seaports, none of them looked at all like her. All the red heads he had seen had more of an orange tone to their hair, but Jessica's hair was a bright, blood red. It reminded him of a flower he had seen in Cinnabar, the biggest seaport around. It was the only place in the world with a botanical garden. There had been a flower that James had really liked in the garden. It smelled sweet and looked beautiful, but it had sharp and plentiful thorns. It was called the rose. It was the same color as her hair.  
He snapped his head up, realizing that he had been staring at her again when there were more important things to do. He had to get the nets ready so that there would be food.   
He worked for another half an hour, and had almost succeeded in getting her out of his head when she spoke. It wasn't a word, just a sound, "Huh?" as she sat up and looked to the ocean in all directions.   
"What is it?" he asked, for although she had made quite an amusing array of faces, she had never looked troubled.   
She focused on the horizon to the west, and said nothing. After what seemed like ages, a slight breeze picked up, coming from the west. As it did, it seemed to carry some message to that girl. A message that James couldn't catch, but she certainly did. Her back straightened and she stood up on her good leg. "The Rockets," she said. She sounded like a mix of anger and apprehension.  
"They the ones trying to kill you?" he asked, deciding not to bother asking how she could hear or see them, whichever it was for he didn't notice a thing.   
"They weren't trying, they were threatening." She said, not looking at him. "It got a little out of hand, for them anyway." She smirked, then her face turned serious again. She turned around and faced him-not glaring like usual, just looking very serious. "So what are you going to do with me?"   
James blinked. He could take her to the trading post, or try and sell her to the rockets-or he could keep her. What should he do? He didn't know. "Why do they want you anyway?"   
"Not your concern."  
"Well if you don't want to go back to them then it is my concern!" he yelled, now frustrated.   
She looked like she would say something, but decided against it. For a moment they just stood there looking at each other--glaring at each other. Then she opened her mouth again and spoke.  
"They want me to do something for them, that's all I can say."  
"Do WHAT?" he yelled. Her answer wasn't enough.  
"THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY!" she looked like she would charge at him. In fact, she tried, but her ankle wouldn't let her and she ended up grounded on the deck.   
He was running out of patience with her. "Look! Just tell me what they're after! What do they want from you?" James really had no idea why he cared.   
She continued to glare at him, but said nothing for a long time. The light breeze tousled her hair and she turned her gaze back to the sea, where a black dot, a ship, was on the horizon. "It doesn't matter what you do, there's not enough wind to outrun them anyway." Her eyes looked glazed and far away.  
He looked at the horizon and saw she was right. The Rocket boat was coming, and coming fast. "What powers that thing?" he asked, grabbing her arm and pulling her up to stand on her good foot.  
"Manpower." A simple reply, his question had been answered in a tone of malice coming from Jessica. She hated them-the Rockets. What had they done to her? What did they want her to do? There was no doubt in James's mind that the woman was special. She just made him feel different; it was strange and nerve wrecking, but he didn't want to give her up. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why.  
He crossed the deck and got out his telescope. She was right, manpower. Protruding out of the sides of the large ship, were many, many large oars. People were inside rowing the massive thing, like slaves.  
"You see that white striped thing? With the gears-over to your right at the end of the boat," James directed, not looking at her.  
"Yeah, what is it?" Jessica answered, looking at the funny apparatus that was partly in the water.  
"It's a motor," James replied, jumping downward and crawling over the mesh net to reach the thing. "It's for emergencies."  
"Mo-tor..." she repeated. "I've heard of those, but never seen one."   
"Rare" James grunted, pulling the cord a good many times. "Hard to find fuel, but I got enough." Finally the engine started with a weakened churning noise, and the boat jolted forward.   
  
To be continued 


	2. 

The Rocket's ship was soon out of sight and out of mind, which was good because James was out of fuel. "Well," he said, angry in a tired sort of way. "You've succeeded in getting me to waste my emergency fuel supply, we hardly have any fresh water left, and I have to bother with fishing for two people-remind me again why I haven't sold you?"   
Jessica crossed her arms, balancing on the railing. "It was your choice and you know it."  
"And you're grateful and you know it," he sneered back.   
She shakily stood up. "What, are you saying that I need you? I can take care of myself, I could jump off this boat right now and not have to bother with this treatment." She flipped some stray strands of hair behind her shoulders. "You're just too weird."  
He turned his head to the side a little. "Oh? How's that? Why am I weird?"  
She raised an eyebrow and stared at him. "Ok, not weird exactly," she said carefully. "Different I guess. It's just I have no idea why I'm here, seeing as you haven't sold me, touched me, or made me work." There was a pause. "What you want from me exactly?"  
He couldn't help but stare at her then, in partway wonder and confusion. What DID he want from her? She certainly wasn't very useful with her ankle busted, and she was depleting his supplies...what good was she to him? Why, for all the trouble she'd caused him, did he want her here?  
"You men," she snorted, her patience gone from his long silence. "You can't even answer a simple question." She let out a haughty sigh, and lay back down on the folded sail.  
James returned to repairing the fishing nets. It was long and boring work, and to make things worse, two of his best nets had become tangled together with a mess of thick seaweed. He'd have to cut a lot of it off-where was that stupid knife? He'd just seen it...   
James searched the cabin with no luck before remembering that he'd put it over by the spare sail where the girl was. His mind began to put up automatic barriers against the bad-mannered remarks Jessica would surely give him if he did even the slightest thing to aggravate her while he was over there. He really couldn't blame her for being angry; even if he wasn't working her like a slave he was still treating her like property, and should he choose to let her go, for the moment they were stuck together. He walked over and saw the knife, lying on the other side of her by the rail. He had to lean over her to pick it up, but Jessica didn't seem to notice. She appeared to be asleep.  
He turned back, but suddenly stopped. What was that noise? It seemed familiar, but it was surely not one of the usual sounds one heard on his boat. He looked left and right, and then realized it was coming from the girl. He leaned closer and listened again, what was it? Suddenly James felt very stupid. It was her breathing. The sound of her breath-how could he not have recognized something like that? He really had been alone too long...   
  
"I hate eating these things," James muttered, poking the clams on the plate with his knife. "The shells on this type really stick; hard to pry op-" he stopped to stare across the makeshift table (an overturned crate) at Jessica who evidentially hadn't heard what he just said. She'd picked up a clam and easily pried it open and began to eat, something James could not have done without the aid of his knife. She looked up.  
"What are you staring at?" she asked as if she hadn't done anything out of the ordinary at all.  
He turned his attention back to the clam. "You're freakishly strong."  
"I'll try to take that as a compliment." They ate in silence for a while until she spoke again. "I don't know how you do it, I'd just about die."  
"What?"  
She waved her hand out to motion to the whole deck. "This boat! It's so boring.... why don't you live on a port or something. A boat settlement even-" she took another bite and continued with her mouth full. "You some kinda hermit?"  
"I prefer the solitude," he bit out. A few days ago, that would have been true, but now he wasn't so sure. He'd left the rest of the scattered populace behind because nobody understood. He wasn't sure what he wanted from anyone...but he just never felt a connection with anything or anyone. Nothing that would give him reason to stay. Momentarily, his thoughts strayed back the botanical garden. That rose...  
"You're weird," she muttered. "If ya want solitude then drop me off somewhere, but really-I don't like it here and I don't like you, but it's stupid to want to be alone. No person wants that."  
James put down the knife and tossed the clamshells into the sea. "If we weren't made to be separated, then why did fate throw is a planet of water? It's impossible to connect to people with this," he motioned disgustedly to the endless sea. "Sure we can build seaports, but there's nothing to hang on to. Boats float away, nobody stays in one place long enough to keep friendships-I don't know how we even evolved!" he was yelling now, but he didn't understand why. "You should face it-humanity was meant to be alone!"  
"You're wrong!" she shouted as if he'd just said something unforgivable. She jolted up, teetered a little because of her ankle, but remained stiff and steady with anger, fists clenched tightly so her knuckles were white. "You're wrong," she said again in a threatenly lower voice. "Things weren't always like this...we were a culture once! Before the waters came...we were a people-the human race!" her breathing was heavy and James backed away a few steps, unsure if she was crazy or not.   
Surely she was mad. There had never been a before the waters, the world had always been ocean, right? And what was this culture thing? It was a vaguely familiar word, but beyond his comprehension.   
Suddenly the air filled with the loud, deep tone of a trader's signal horn. James looked over to see a small boat heading toward them, and a man on board waving his arms. No traders were ever turned down-out here, one always needed something or another, but everything came at its price.   
James moved over to put down the sail so they could stop. As he passed Jessica, she spoke again, voice still strong and low. "It was a mistake... we weren't meant to live this way-we're not supposed to be alone."  
But that's what the ocean was: one large, endless, uncharitable expanse that was the embodiment of loneliness.   
  
The trader was, luckily, shorter than James was, for although there was a certain understood honor against piracy, it still helped to be somewhat intimidating. Jessica had taken her place on the sail, sitting back and quietly watching them with that menacing glare that had once been reserved for James, but was now cast on the trader.   
"I could use some nets," Darren, the trader, said carefully. "What do you want for those?" he pointed to a small pile of netting.   
James shrugged. "Fresh water'll do fine."  
Darren was eyeing Jessica, which she returned with the most quiet but ferocious look James had ever seen; she was so animal-like sometimes. Darren uncomfortably began to look at everything but her.   
"I have," he said when James and he were on his boat discussing payments. "One of those water synthesizers that I could part with...for a considerable price of course."  
  
"No sale," Jessie heard James say as he came back on deck, carrying a small barrel of water. Darren followed behind him.  
"You're passing up a great offer, fool," the trader said. Then he turned to Jessie. "What's a lovely woman like you doing with such an idiot?"   
"When my ankle heals I intend to leave," she said, then changed her tone and added "one way or another" in James's direction. He grunted but said nothing.   
"I'll tell you what," Darren started in a salesman's tone. "Why don't you come along with me and I'll take you to whatever port you want. Your friend gets his synthesizer, and we're all happy."  
Her eyes narrowed, she didn't trust this man at all. "And what do you get?" she asked carefully. She really did need to get home, and it didn't seem like James would take her. "I know that nothing's free."  
Darren began his sympathy act. "I'm just lonely by myself, miss," he said, putting a hand on his chest. "I'd enjoy the company."  
She opened her mouth but James spoke first.  
"You can pay for your whores like the rest of the world," he said in a threatening tone, arms crossed. "But leave the ladies alone."   
Darren probably would have said more, but right then James looked particularly angry and he'd evidentially outstayed his welcome. He grunted and moved to the plank connecting the two boats.   
Before he could leave James's boat though, Jessica hobbled over in his way. "I'll tell you something," she said. "It all comes back to you in one way or another. You'll pay, somehow, for treating women like me as just another thing for your amusement."  
The man narrowed his eyes, and before anyone could react, he slapped her hard across the face. "Shut yer mouth, woman," he huffed, and jumped on to his own ship, knocking over the plank in the process before James could do anything. Jessica would have retaliated, if she hadn't lost her footing and fallen overboard.   
James yelled some obscenities at Darren as his ship quickly sailed off, and then looked around for some rope to pull the girl back up with. Could she swim with her ankle like that? She probably could, he shouldn't worry. She did have that unusual strength of hers. "You all right? Or do you need help getting back up?"   
No answer. He couldn't help remembering when she wished she'd been left in the water to swim away or die, he didn't know which. But something else was bothering him. What if she did leave? Where would he be? Right back where he started in his useless, insignificant lifestyle. He'd be nothing worth remembering, but that girl...no matter how strange or even mean, she could really stick to a person. Something in the back of his mind was telling him something was out of place. What? What? What? Oh it was so annoying to have something on the tip of your tongue and not be able to put your finger on it.   
But then it hit him. No splash.   
When she had fallen, there was no sound at all.   
With an unidentified feeling in the pit of his stomach, he forgot about the rope and rushed to the side of the boat and looked over. "What the-"   
She hadn't hit the water. She was struggling to stand, but she was having trouble getting a foothold and was stuck in an awkward sitting position. That's what happens when somebody tries to stand on magickarp. She hadn't hit the water, but somehow a school of magickarp had risen up and created a strange kind of netting to catch her with-she wasn't even touching the water. "How...did...?" James was at a loss for words. Was this possible?  
It must be.   
Numbly he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back on deck. She sat where she landed, glaring once again, eerily and angrily silent as James stared at her disbelieving. He remembered the men-the rockets-on the fishing boat who had challenged the garadous-they had flung her in front, as if sacrificing her, but what if that wasn't it? What if they wanted her to...communicate with it? The only explanation for the magickarp catching her like they did was that she might be able to talk to them somehow and ask for help, but that couldn't be right, could it?   
"Who ~are~ you?" he stammered.  
She looked almost sad right then. "I..." she started, but closed her mouth. Perhaps she couldn't finish her sentence either. 


	3. 

James looked over the rail and saw the Magickarp were still there, watching him and the flaming red hair of Jessica, which was all they could see of her. He turned back to her. "You can talk to them..." he said, she didn't look at him, "can't you..." it was said as more of a fact than a question.   
She stiffened, turned around almost all the way, and shakily stood. She stared at the magickarp. They stared back. She continued to look into their large, white eyes; she nodded. There was a splash, and the fish were gone.   
"So what if I can hear them..." she bit out. "You'd never get me to prove it to a crowd-the rocket's learned that, the hard way...with that garadous. And I won't be doing any kind of special favors or anything; the rocket's learned that too..."  
"So that's what they wanted you for..." James found himself trailing off before he realized that she had just implied that he'd try and sell off her talents.  
"That's part of the reason," she muttered, leaving James to wonder what the other part was.   
"Well..." he started off. "Could I ask...is it something you learned, or is it some telepathic thing?"   
She groaned in response, and James realized that she'd probably be sick of questions like that. "Fine, fine," he said. "It doesn't matter...but if those Rocket's ever got you back, imagine what they would-"   
"Pay?" she muttered sourly, trying to finish his sentence.   
"No," he shot her a glare. "Do. Imagine what they would do. If they ever figured out how you do it...we gotta find a safe place for you."  
She turned around to face him, and looked him in the eye for the first time since she'd been pushed off the boat. "We? Someplace sa--you're not selling me?"   
"Something tells me you'd beat me up if I tired."   
She actually smiled at him.  
  
  
James woke up early the next morning; his mind had been too loaded with thoughts to rest properly. Where could they go? Jessica had obviously had some kind of ultimate destination in mind, but, although she knew he wouldn't turn her in, they were still strangers. He didn't know what the reason was for not telling him what port she wanted to go to, but he'd figure that out later.   
The boat was heading a bit too far east for his taste, which meant the currents had changed. Walking over to the side of the skiff, James dropped a rope into the water and watched it quickly try to drift away. The current had, indeed, changed, and it was perfect for fishing.   
Suddenly there was a tug on the rope in his hands. Surprised, James stared into the gloomy looking water. A fish wouldn't just go up and bite a thick rope with no bait...well not normally at least. He didn't see a thing. There was another tug, harder this time, and the rope was pulled from his hands and it disappeared under the water, taking James with it.  
It was impossible to see under water in the thin, morning light, and James began to panic. Everyone knew how to swim, but it should only be done close to a port, for who knew what lay beneath the surface of the water. Fearing a garadous had pulled the rope away, he quickly rose to the surface where he was greeted by a delighted giggle.   
"What the-who are you?" James managed to say, trying to get the salt water from his mouth. There was a girl swimming in the water nearby; she held a rope in one hand and was laughing at him, apparently thinking it was funny to pull someone from their boat in monster infested waters.   
There came a deeper laugh from behind him, and James spun around to find a man treading water just a little ways away. He apparently was with the girl, or at least that's what he suspected for they looked similar. Pale green hair and bright, large aqua eyes stared at him from two different faces, then the girl spoke up in a happy tone.  
"Brother, didja see the legger fall?" she squealed in rapture.   
The mad gave a more good-natured laugh. He seemed to find James's fall as funny as she did, but was trying to be the mature one.   
The girl stifled some giggles, "But at any rate..." she started, but then ducked under the water. Quickly, James felt something like a punch in his shin.  
"Ow!" the girl resurfaced next to the man. "What was that for?"  
She looked a bit miffed. "Just a legger," she muttered to the man, and ducked under the water again.   
The man sighed. "Sorry," he said to James. "We thought somebody else was here." And with a splash he was gone as well.  
  
  
Jessie sat on her seaweed mattress, trying to decide what to do. Clutched in her hands was an extremely old, ripped, and faded picture of Seafoam, a "mythical" island not far from Cinibar, the biggest floating sea port. Her ankle was feeling a lot better; she could swim there easily, but what about James?   
What about him? her mind scolded.   
She bit her bottom lip, mind split in two. He was a stranger, but really what was he? Probably the closest thing she had to a friend.   
You'll have plenty of friends at Seafoam, where they understand you. Her mind was reminding her of all the times she'd been betrayed by the "normal" people.  
"But James is so...weird...different...I think in a good way." She told her mind off, but it wouldn't shut up. Damn common sense.   
He's nice to you, so what? You need somebody more trustworthy, and can you trust that stranger?   
"I don't know."  
It was then that James came bursting in. "Jessica!" she scrunched the paper into her fist so he couldn't see it. "The Rocket's...they're back, and I don't have any fuel left."  
"Mmm..." she mumbled. "So I'm guessing you want me to ask a garadous for help?"  
He looked annoyed. "Well, seeing as we have no means of outrunning them, THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA!"  
She nodded solemnly. Trust. She had no choice but to trust him with her secret, he said he'd keep her safe, but what if he was just trying to keep her calm while he took her to a port and sold her as a slave? But at the moment, he was right. The Rockets needed to be dealt with now, and her doubts would have to wait until later.   
  
  
They had harpoon guns. Long, pointed spears shot at the tiny boat, and then were brought back to the rockets by ropes that were attached to them to be used over and over again, tearing the sails and breaking the deck boards.   
The guns had a long range, and time was running out. James didn't even need his telescope to see that their last hope of escape was Jessica's power of talking to pokemon.   
"Any day now would be nice!" he yelled back at her. She was leaning far over the railing, looking into the water.   
She got up, and cast a forlorn stare at the giant pirate ship that was quickly approaching. "There aren't any garadous in the area, and only one small school of Magickarp, which wouldn't do us any good." In other words, she was saying they were doomed.   
"Shit!" James hissed. Even if there had been a pokemon that could help them get away, the boat would obviously not stay afloat much longer with all the damage it was receiving. "Any chance of mercy if we surrender?"  
"No."  
"Didn't think so." Another harpoon hit the main sail and ripped it into a useless shred. "Get the spare up fast!" he snapped. "I'll try and disable one of those guns with my own harpoon gun." His didn't have as much range as the Rocket's did, but the pirates were already too close for comfort, or escape. Might as well go down fighting. He aimed the gun, but missed the target. The spear flew uselessly over the Rocket's guns, placed up on their decks in easy view. James reeled the harpoon back in, and tried another shot, but the trigger was stuck again. "Damn! Hey, we need that sail!"  
The girl was just standing there, obviously accepting defeat. She seemed top be thinking something over, for she looked as if in deep concentration.   
"Hey!" James yelled again, trying to get her attention. No luck. He turned back to the gun, unable to deal with the crazy emotional roller coaster of a woman at the moment. The harpoons on the Rocket boat were no longer pointed at the deck. It was obvious that James's skiff was going nowhere except down. The spears were pointed at Jessie and James themselves.  
The first harpoon shot out, and James barely dodged it, jumping up and landing near Jessie on the lower deck. "Get out of the way!" he yelled at the girl, yanking her wrist so she fell down and a spear shot just over her head.   
She looked at him strangely, then her eyes lowered a bit and she nodded very slightly as if making an important decision. "My ankle's better..." she said softly, but as if it was incredibly meaningful at the moment.  
James couldn't believe her! "Well ain't that nice, but really, WERE ABOUT TO DIE OR HAVE YOU NOT NOTICED!?"   
"Shut up," she said slowly, grabbing his wrist. "We'll be fine."   
She suddenly shot upward and ran quickly across the deck, dragging James with her. A harpoon crashed just behind them and water cascaded out and onto the deck. Jessica jumped into the sea, and James was dragged under the water at once.   
It was so pointless... even if they could avoid the rocket's they'd never be able to swim to the next port, which was miles and miles away. And to make matters worse, he was running out of air. He could normally hold his breath for a while, but the surprise of her jumping off of what was left of the boat and dragging him down caught him off guard and he hadn't gotten a good sized breath.  
He tried to rise to the surface for air (risky as if was, for what if the Rocket's saw him?), but he felt Jessica pull him back down, and before he could motion to her that he couldn't breathe, she'd pressed her lips to his. He felt his lungs fill with air, as if she'd preformed some kind of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.   
Despite the fact that he knew she'd only done that so he could breathe, he felt himself blush. But, with her air supply given to him, how was she going to breathe? She'd have to be the one to go to the surface now, but as she pulled away from him he felt the grip on his wrist tighten and she said, quite clearly in the water, "Hang on, were leaving."   
How had she spoken so clearly while under water? He voice had been no different than when she was at the surface. But then he looked at her and understood.  
From under the white seel skin dress, where her legs should have been, was a long, red-scaled fish tail. A mermaid.  
So that was it. That was how she talked to pokemon, and why she'd wanted to hit the water when the garadous attacked. And the Rockets...  
Think off all they could get for a mermaid! And if they could ever get her to bring enough garadous to their side...they could surely take over. No wonder she was so important. No wonder the rockets wanted her.  
And as another harpoon shot into the water near by, he remembered that they still wanted her.  
Now was not the time for questions, now was time for action.   
Jessica's tail flipped, and with amazing speed they set off to only she knew where. 


End file.
